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Airfix to discontinue "some" kits


RobertF

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Hello all,

 

for the benefit of the few on these forums who are not subscribed to Hannants' mailing list: according to H, Airfix has dropped some 100 kits from the range. The list seems to include several new(ish) toolings as well, such as the

1/48 Gloster Javelin FAW.9/FAW.9R and 1/48 Supermarine Spitfire PR Mk.XIX. Lots of 1/72 stuff as well.

 

For the full list see https://www.hannants.co.uk/search/index.php?setPerPage=25&sort=delivered&manufacturer_id=7897&product_category_id=108&search_direction=desc&save_search=1&pageID=3

 

Let's hope they're just chopping some dead wood and not taking some live branches in the process..... anyway, I know what to do with my favourites on the list!

 

Regards,

 

Robert

 

 

 

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I wouldn't panic too much , this is perfectly normal for most kit manufacturers, they will rotate kits in production , so many of these could be back in perhaps 12-18 months time.

 

Andrew

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There's no panic Andrew, I know this is common practice for most of them, but some kits take a quite bit longer to get back in production, the Fujimi 1/48 Wasp and the AFV Club Centurion Mk 5 being two "good" examples. And some never make it back to the production stage, the Revell Atlantic LRMPA for instance.

 

I just thought I'd give some warning to those who would want to buy and build the axed models some time in the foreseeable future, that's all.

 

Robert

 

 

 

 

 

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Hello all,

I just received a pre Telford email from the yellow H. I won't be going to Telford due to a slight issue of 10,645 miles. Neverthless, 

it states that over 100 of the current Airfix range have been cancelled :o !

 

Not for sales purposes (I'm nothing to do with the 'H') but to show you the kits in question here is a link to the 'H'. If the mods need me to take the link out please let me know and my sincere apologies in advance:

 

https://www.hannants.co.uk/search/index.php?setPerPage=25&sort=delivered&manufacturer_id=7897&product_category_id=108&search_direction=desc&save_search=1&pageID=5

 

Looking at this list I am quite concerned. The Gladiator in 1/72, Hurricane Mk 1, many similar recent popular releases??!! :frantic: .

 

Some, such as the beloved and venerable Sunderland I can understand (although I prefer it to the Italeri 'paving stone' panel line release). Also I want to buy an HMS Belfast (grandad served on a ship of this class), but the s/h market provides well.

 

Does anyone know why the more recent models are being discontinued? Are Airfix going all wobbly again?

 

It has me quite worried, this is a huge tranche.

 

All best regards

TonyT

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As has been mentioned a few times in other threads, Hornby is cutting 40% of its product line across all its brands as part of its commitments to meet its refinancing deal. The Airfix catalogue this year had approximately 250 products, and with the 100 or so lines now dropped this equates to 40%.

 

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Thanks.

I'm trying to visualise that in terms of other sectors.

For example if Sony, Ford, IKEA or Microsoft were to discontinue 40% of their product ranges, including popular items.

It seems to me it would be sending a worrying signal to shareholders?

T

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Not as worrying as bankruptcy, or refusing to follow the instructions of the financial company brought in to stave off bankruptcy - as this is.  Remember that this is not happening in a vacuum, or as any great surprise.  Investors have seen for some time that Hornby was in trouble, have seen that the company has turned to others for help, and Hornby have now  to swallow their medicine, as it were.

Edited by Graham Boak
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1 hour ago, TonyTiger66 said:

Hello all,

I just received a pre Telford email from the yellow H. I won't be going to Telford due to a slight issue of 10,645 miles. Neverthless, 

it states that over 100 of the current Airfix range have been cancelled :o !

 

Not for sales purposes (I'm nothing to do with the 'H') but to show you the kits in question here is a link to the 'H'. If the mods need me to take the link out please let me know and my sincere apologies in advance:

 

https://www.hannants.co.uk/search/index.php?setPerPage=25&sort=delivered&manufacturer_id=7897&product_category_id=108&search_direction=desc&save_search=1&pageID=5

 

 

 

Yes, that's what I started this thread with in the first place... including the link. Sometimes it pays to start reading a thread from the beginning :P

 

Never mind, as they say in advertising, repetition is the key to success...

 

Robert

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, TonyTiger66 said:

Looking at this list I am quite concerned. The Gladiator in 1/72, Hurricane Mk 1, many similar recent popular releases??!! :frantic: .

 

 

TonyT

I can understand culling some kits, especially some of the older tools which have seen there day. However I echo Tony's concerns that there are a lot of the new tool kits in there.

 

JUlien

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I believe this list of kits is just them coming up for the routine 3 to 5 year rest and change over.

Airfix have always done this.

Airfix have around 300 kits in their catalogue at any one time, but they have over 1200 moulds.

So rest a selection and bring out some that haven't been in the catalogue for a few years.

For 2017 you'll see a raft of older Airfix kits being reissued with new paint schemes and new decal options as well as a number of totally new tool kits.

Nowt to worry or fuss about.

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But won't the 'cut the range by 40%' edict from the 'bank' mean that the size of the range at a given point defines how large the range is going to be going forwards. For a period off time till the 'bank' are satisfied that the group are performing adequately in a financial return sense.

 

 So do the 'normal rules' of resting and then re releasing tooling apply when the company is under 'orders' to run with a smaller range? 

 

Perhaps  they just looked at sales numbers and culled off the lines that were the poorest selling ones to meet the 40% reduction threshold. 

 

Or perhaps they looked at general stock levels in the market and what stuff was needing a reorder from the supplier in India and made a call to not reorder those lines. That's then consistent  with the aim of an overall lower stocking level in the Hornby warehouse. 

 

Sounds like they they have to get their stock down as it's chewing up too much capital.

 

Just a thought

Plasto

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Airfix are only following the trend established elsewhere. One only has to look at the Fujimi or Hasegawa line-up to see that its nothing new. Trimming the catalogue of both old and new kits appears to be a regular occurrence and as others have said, is in line with what the new financiers have demanded. Stock that lies for too long costs in terms on storage and investment so discontinue it for a while, see if its superseded by something else (which would ultimately damage sales of a re-pop) and then re-issue. The Spitfire F.24, Seafire Mk 47, BAC Lightning and BAC Canberra in 1:48 are all classic examples of moulds that have been semi-retired and then resurrected when the market is able to sustain real additional sales. Unless the mould is really old, I would not be inclined to panic...I feel sure a kit would return if Airfix/Hornby determined that sales would justify further production.  basic economics really. 

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Gentlemen could we all lower our heads and have a moments silence for the Sunderland,surely the mold must now be laid to rest in the 

deserved peace it is entitled too.God speed.

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12 minutes ago, stevej60 said:

Gentlemen could we all lower our heads and have a moments silence for the Sunderland,surely the mold must now be laid to rest in the 

deserved peace it is entitled too.God speed.

I'm still convinced that one of Airfix's teaser photos released recently on the face ache page showed the underside of the Sunderland hull at RAFM Hendon. The photo appeared before the announcement of the Walrus which is just a few steps away from the Sunderland. But as the photo was of an area unavailable to the view of a normal visitor I'm convinced that 'the team' were researching the Sunderland. Could the Sunderland be the "large Iconic aircraft release" being promised for announcement at Telford?

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I don't think we should be too worried by this. It might be a little surprising to see some of the new tools on the list, but they'll be back. There are some ancient kits on the list that must have been discontinued and reissued a few times by now after all.

 

It seems to me to be a mix of good business sense - i.e. as others have said, routinely resting kits to reissue later - and complying with the requirements of Hornby's refinancing. I can well understand the routine resting and reissuing - I have no particular insight into the industry here but it seems to me that they'd generate a lot of demand for a kit in its first year or two after it's issued, then it tails off. They might then generate more demand over the long term by reissuing if it's been rested for a while - plus have the mould last longer and be around at a later time when it would sell to modellers who might not have been interested in it (or in modelling at all even) when it was first released.

 

As for the requirement to cut the product line as a condition of refinancing - if this is what it takes to have Airfix continue releasing new kits, not to mention continue the remaining 60% of the product line, so be it! Seems like a better outcome than what might have happened if Hornby hadn't refinanced.

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